*** Official Clevo W230ST/Sager NP7330 Owner's Lounge ***

Hello.

I'm having problem with install Win 7 on W230ST. Currently i have Win 8 installed on RAID0 partition with two mSATA 120GB drive. Win 7 installator doesn't recognize any of drives. I was trying installing on IDE or AHCI mode but still... doesn't recognize drives. RAID drivers or SATA drivers doesnt' help.

 

how do you overvolt GPU ? Does that mean I have to undervolt the CPU and lower clock in order for GPU overvolt to work without crashing ?

 

It's the tab on the bottom in Inspector:



Just watch your temps, with undervolted CPU my GPU doesn't go above 85c even with maximum additional voltage applied.
Also mind that this extra voltage value was selected by NVIDIA themselves and matches exactly the value we where using in older generations in Overvolt Mods for last years W-series without problems. In fact the values for the NVIDIA 7-series cards are almost 100% identical to our UOV Edition (all clocks undervolted and 3D Turbo overvolted).
So their and our testing had the same outcome.

 

What bios version do you have? Maybe your current bios does not support raid. Have a l closer look, also check bios setup maybe you are missing something.

 

I fugured it out. It looks like RAID driver doesn't want to load from memory pluged into USB 3.0 port. On USB 2.0 it works just fine.

 

So do I increase Voltage Offset and then base and memory clock ? Could you post a screenshot of nvidia inspector with overclock settings please ? Also do use GPU overclock and CPU underclock in BIOS or prefer within windows ?

 

He already posted numbers before. He increased voltage offset to 2/3rds of the bar around +200mV with +350MHz on Core and +550 MHz on vRam. Prema decreased CPU voltage offset on it to -100mV on both processor and cache either with XTU or through his BIOS settings. All of these figures are extremely individual based on the type of processor and different GPU chips. You can't just copy his numbers and hope it works. It requires careful testing.

For example I could push my core clock +240MHz with overvolt and +560MHz vRAM. I run only -80mV on the processor. It resulted in 5262 3DMark11 score (in my signature), which is 5th best for W230ST among "valid scores" using official drivers. With higher core clock my NVIDIA driver crashed several times, maybe I could push it further with even higher voltage, but honestly not too curious to find that out. For me this overclock doesn't seem to be stable in practical use like games. Also I find Nvidia Inspector behaving strangely at times and resetting. Prema actually modifies BIOS for Clevo and knows what he is doing unlike me It's fun to see those high numbers in benchmarks, however I prefer to have a stable overclock without increased voltage.

Maybe overvolt will give me +5% increased FPS in games over my stable overclock, however is it really worth it?

 

Guys the point is not to get as much high as possible 3d mark scores but to maintain stability. Of course not all machines are the same. In my W230ST for example I maintain 100% stability at 4900 3d mark 11 score. By the way 3d mark is not pushing the gpu to the limit therefore we cannot judge by the 3d mark scores. You have to test it in real life gaming. BF4 and Crysis 3 are pushing to the limits, therefore that is a good indication whether you have stability or not. If I am mistaken please correct me.

 

I absolutely agree, also maintain approximately 4900 score with 100% stability without overvolting. Just because some settings seem to be stable in 3DMark11, it doesn't mean they would work in practice. There is no reason to chase those few extra fps if you risk crashing a game and losing your progress in my opinion.

 

I got information on the other forum that this may be cause by Intel Driver.
Where do I seek drivers for Intel for our w230st for Windws 7?

I can only see Windows 8 drivers here:
http://www.clevo.com.tw/en/e-services/download.asp

 

I use the latest official Intel driver for 4600 from their website.

 

I have a question for you guys. I have some issues with BF4 after about 30 minutes of play. It automatically exits out of the game and gives me an error message (shown in the picture). Basically it says I have run out of memory and need to close BF4 to prevent memory loss. I have 8GB of memory and no other programs running besides HW Monitor. Any idea what could be causing this and how I can fix it? It is very annoying and persistent.

I am running PremaMod and am undervolted by -80mV. Cores 3 and 4 are at x28 and everything else is stock.

 

According to that you're trying to run BF4 on the integrated GPU and not taking advantage of the vRAM to run the game. Specify in the nvidia control panel to use the dedicated GPU and I'm sure you'll be able to play without that error.

 

Drivers 331.82 are mandatory for all now as BF4 is concerned due to the latest update released a day ago. Just turn vsync off and limit your fps at 58 or 59. It works very smooth. Minimum tearing experienced when capping fps. Also download latest igpu drivers from intel and not from the clevo site.
Win 8 drivers work for win 7 as well, no problem.

 

updating intel driver helped !
it seems vsync is managed by Intel now and now due to G-Sync introduction on Nvidia side there was some incompatibility issues.

Few more things:
I googled that GF7xxx series cards with Optimus benefit a lot from 16Gb or ram instead of 8Gb Ram. It is even possible to get 5-10% increase of performance.
My notebook has 2x4 Gb Crucial 1600 SODIMMs.
I would like to replace this with 2x8Gb some good quality RAM. What do you suggest I buy ? What is the best for our setup ?

Does remiving RAM void warranty ?

here goes comparison:
http://forum.guru3d.com/showpost.php?p=4692674&postcount=53

 

RAM will not affect your performance using the dedicated GPU. It might have an effect on iGPU. The comparison he is listing has different processors, different drivers, different default clockspeeds and different laptops. Also the P25W with 16GB RAM doesn't show improvement in scores, also the same system he is referring to doesn't show a drastic improvement in any other benchmark. In 3DMark11 it falls behind other laptops with 8GB of RAM on Notebookcheck.

Changing your RAM does not void your warranty, you are welcome to do it if you actually have a use for it. However if you expect a 5-10% fps increase because of extra 8GB of RAM you might be disappointed. Overclocking your GPU will most likely end up in much better tangible results.

 

Thanks for the advice. I had noticed that and was confused because I already specified that it run with the dedicated card. I also turned on the indicator for programs using the Nvidia card and even after this error shows up the only program listed using the 765m is BF4. Do you think it is temporarily trying to switch to the integrated card and causing the issue? I just have no idea what is going on.

 

That's odd. the GPU is routed through the iGPU so maybe the way BF4 reads that is using the iGPU instead of the dGPU when you really are using that dedicated. If you've already tried doing that, I really don't know. I haven't run into that problem in the wild before so haven't troubleshot it before. Is your system reporting the full 8gb of RAM you physically have in there?

 

Yeah, the system is reporting everything as normal and other games like Bioshock Infinite, Far Cry 3 and BF3 run great at high settings and full HD. I even scaled BF4 back to 1600x1900 and have most settings on medium or below with SSAO and MSAA off. I couldn't find another instance of this error either.

 

Yeah pretty weird stuff there. Might be worth it to back the game up, uninstall, then reinstall to see if it was just a corrupt installation or something.

 

I'll definitely give it a try and hope it is fixed. If not I guess I will just have to avoid that game for a while! Thanks again for the advice, always appreciate it.

 

You're very welcome, let us know if you end up coming across a solution.

 

I know it's completely irrelevant and off topic but look at this... https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/notebooks/vortexIII-Elite/

£720 for that monster! I'd have to upgrade the CPU but still.. without windows it's £630! £630 for a 7970m crossfire laptop!

 

Well, no solution, but I reinstalled and updated the HD4600 driver from Intel's site since sager is a bit behind on theirs. This time I got a new error after one round of BF4. Photo is attached. I would love to hear from anyone who is having this same experience or has any input. Screenshot is attached. Like I mentioned in a previous post other games such as Far Cry 3, BioShock Infinite, and BF3 seem to work just fine. It seems to be witching to the 4600 during game play or something, though my indicator shows BF4 using the 765m.

I also used GPU-Z to check which graphics card is being used and the HD4600 remained below 3% utilization the whole time. After that I switched from the 64bit version to the x86 version of BF4 and the directX error did not pop up, but I still got a low memory message. Immediately took a screenshot (second picture) which includes the task manager (had it running under BF4) which obviously shows I am not low on memory. So confused....

 

Try to uninstall game, download and run ccleaner from link provided to clear any remaining / corrupted registry files. CCleaner - Portable
Reinstall game and see. I hope that helps.

 

I would click on the performance tab and then memory, and see what's going on there.

This may be a bit rash, but I would do a clean install of Windows 8 and see if the problem persists. If it does, then it is likely a hardware issue. However, to me it seems like a memory leak of some sort. I would also go into task manager and check the apps that run at startup, maybe post an image of it here so we can see if anything stands out. Look in spoiler tag for what I mean.

Spoiler

 

I am giving this a try first. Uninstalled and ran CCleaner. Am downloading now and will try the game when it is finished. Thanks for the tip. It got rid of a lot of leftover files.

When I checked the memory under the performance tab nothing stood out. I attached a screenshot of my startup as requested. Seems pretty similar to yours. The computer starts stupid fast, fastest I have ever owned.

 

Where did you find that link ? You can't reach it via their menus.
It seems it's not available anymore, probably an old laptop whose price isn't updated from a long time..
Also, no pics, no description.... I wish it was true

 

Yeah I asked them and apparently it was a old link but I always see it pop up at different prices every now and again. I'd love to get a nice older model clevo with a 680m or 7970m at a cut price!

 

Btw, when I went to check it it was only ~300£.... really wished it was true

 

does anyone know what's going on with my clevo? It won't turn on unless it's plugged in (the backlight keyboard and power button light up briefly when I press it then shuts off), but the battery holds a perfect charge, I can get about 4 hours from it. When it is plugged in, the keyboard and power button also light up briefly then shuts off, but then it turns back on. Also, sometimes I can't log in, the system hangs when I input my password. Anybody know why?

 

Well after some more failed attempts to fix it and some more research I found out that my issues were a result of playing at a non-native resolution (1600x900). Changed it to 1920x1080 and everything worked fine. No idea why this caused memory problems, but all is good now.

 

I am wondering why you are switching to a lower resolution than native since you can play BF4 at 1080p on high? It is playable and it will give you between 40 to 60 fps. Man the machine is a pocket missile especially if you tweak a little bit the GPU.

 

Hello again! Even though it appears that no one is having any issues similar to what I had, I came back to give an update on my progress just in case it can help someone in the future or so if there is someone reading through this entire thread trying to determine if they should buy this laptop and was left a bad taste from my previous posting. I am pleased to say that all issues were fixed within about a week of my posting and my laptop has been running free of issues since.

At the time of my posting I stated that my sager was having about 1 BSOD a day. Well, over the next week it averaged to about 4-5 a day. This, understandably, got a little frustrating, so I went on a program deleting spree in hopes that it was a program that was a culprit and not bios, drivers, or hardware. Fortunately, I struck gold when I deleted a 3rd party GPU monitoring win7 gadget (Do people actually use Win7 gadgets?) that I had downloaded. After its deletion, not only did all BSOD and beeping issues go away, but I also noticed a hugely significant decrease in temps particularly around the area to the right of the touchpad.

With the loss of my GPU monitoring tool I am curious as to what programs you guys use to monitor GPU temps and CPU temps?

Second, another serious issue that I had fixed previous to this one, which can also hopefully help someone else, is that for about a month long period after purchase my laptop would randomly freeze, not BSOD. This would occur whether I was actively doing something on my laptop or if it was left unattended and idle. I eventually found the problem to be with either (or possibly both) optional windows updates KB2574819 and KB2592687. The deletion of both completely fixed that issue.

I hope that my experiences help someone suffering similar issues with their clevo w230st. It is a great laptop that really packs a punch. Surprisingly though, blue screens or freezing multiple times a day can become slightly bothersome.

To anyone thinking about buying this laptop: Please note that one of my issues was stupidity and the other was a software issue. The only actual issue that I have had with the Sager NP7330 that is the manufacturer's fault was screen bruising on the display. XoticPC was very quick to respond and immediately emailed me a package label to send it back so that I did not have to contact Sager directly at all. Sager replaced my screen bruised display and replaced it with a display with less screen bruising. If you are going to buy this laptop you should definitely go through a retailer (XoticPC, Mythlogical, etc). Overall, great laptop. Very powerful. I would recommend it.

 

What's the best way to find framerate in game?

 

I use RealTemp, found it to be the best for my needs.

 

The frame rate in games is a matter of fulfilling your personal gaming experience. Therefore you need to tweak the in game settings accordingly but in my personal opinion you should never go below your screen native resolution.

 

Wow. Interesting. Good find! +1 for the troubleshooting as this may help other users. Although it would be good to have a fix, but it seems an Intel issue.

Why not? You can play any resolution you want. Some people want 60+ FPS since they are sensitive to it. It sucks that we're locked to native resolution. I hope it gets fixed.

For BF4 specifically, bring up console and type: PerfOverlay.DrawFps 1

Or set up a "user.cfg" file using notebpad, in your main battlefield 4 directory and put it in there. It will start up every time the game does. I also limit FPS to 50 to keep temps down a bit, and use the cspathenable 0 tweak to push a few extra fps.

This is what I have in my user.cfg:

PerfOverlay.DrawFps 1
GameTime.MaxVariableFPS 50
WorldRender.LightTileCsPathEnable 0

Some people have a lot more options in theirs but I don't find anything else does much but reduce quality.

 

I was experimenting and started with 900p to monitor temperatures. I didn't think of taking it higher because I was having the memory issues and also higher temps than I wanted. Once I took it to 1080p the temps actually lowered by 5-10 degrees C.

Thanks! Also I don't think we are locked to native, I decided to take it a step further and it seems that I can play at 900p if I change the desktop resolution to 900p in windows first. So it seems that as long as you match the in game and windows resolutions you can lower the resolution without problems (at least I can).

 

I did not have problems playing @900p that I can remember of... I assume it depends on games & drivers, maybe vBios too.

 

I use HWMonitor and MSI Afterburner. The latter one can be used for overclocking as well. I recommend updating the NVIDIA GPU and Intel drivers to the latest ones, they worked fine in my experience.

 

I have no idea what combination of things could have caused my problems. I just know at least one other person had the same issue and fixed it the same way. I'm glad it isn't a widespread issue though, that would be more irritating.

 

I did not test it much though, since fullhd is handled that well.... did you get those problems with each and every game you tried ?

 

Ever since I got it from XoticPC, my W230ST has made a faint (but very noticable in a quiet environment) hissing noise from what seemed to be the fan area of the computer, so I assumed my unit had a faulty fan or something.

However, upon plugging in my headphones (and only then), the faint hissing sound stops. Does anyone else's laptops do this? It seems to make this sound when near-idle, but also seems to stop in linux.

 

I don't have this issue myself (Linux or not), but on one of my previous computers there could be a noise like this, from the cpu power supply. The noise came when the CPU scaled back an forth in frequency, asking for more power. It was a faint sound, but that could definitely be heard. Could that help ?

 

When you plug in headphones you disable the output to your speakers so that will be the issue, you could mute them and probably do the same thing.

 

that or it's the fan and the lil' shake from plugging the headphones stopped it.

 

It would seem that way, but disabling the speakers in Windows doesn't do anything to the hissing sound, and I can repeatedly get the hshshsshsshsshshsshs sound to stop by unplugging and re-plugging my headphones, so it seems more like interference.

Edit: It also goes away if I press the Fn-F3 mute button, but not if I reduce volume to 0. Hmm.

 

Has anyone been able to disable the edge swiping for windows 8.1, i have installed the latest drivers but it still doesn't show up in the mouse settings.

 

o_o the latest drivers did install for you? I always get an error at the end of the install about the driver being unable to install.

Try these
Drivers | Synaptics
Important: Uninstall the old driver or you will have autostart leftovers of those helper things...